Psycho-Cybernetics Question of the Day
I have a question Coach… what does it mean to “Practice without effort?” In Ch 4, page 66 of Psycho Cybernetics, Knight Dunlap is being quoted and I’m not sure how to comprehend practice without effort.
Basil
M.F. Good question, Basil. When you practice with effort, you are attempting to over-power a situation. This begins with the mistaken notion that physical effort is superior to mental and spiritual power.
Here’s an example:
Most students attempt to memorize by rote. They read and re-read something, or repeat it out loud over and over. This requires much more time and effort than using the power of mental imagery. Not only that, but the rote method doesn’t last long. A few days after an exam, most of what was “memorized” is forgotten. But with the mental imagery method, a great deal time is saved. You learn and comprehend remarkable fast, and the material that was learned, without struggle, is still with you… long after the exam.
Many people struggle to remember names, so they repeat to themselves the name of someone in order to recall it later. But if you form a mental picture of the person’s name, associating it with someone else you know, as well as with an action and a location, the name is “locked in” immediately, without all the rote repetitions.
Another simple example that can give you the experience of what this means is when you are opening a bag of food, or unscrewing the lid from a jar.
As you “try” to open the bag or unscrew the lid, you may find it unusually difficult. At this point you can double your physical effort – still to no avail.
But if you stop for a few seconds and picture the bag already being open, or the lid already being unscrewed from the jar, you will be shocked at how, with a seemingly effortless movement, the bag opens and the lid comes off.
This is the idea.
Take time to picture first – then act. When you do it this way – it’s almost crazy how little effort is involved.
Effortless effort doesn’t mean ZERO EFFORT.
It means less than ever before… so much less that it feels as though what you did was EASY. It was NOTHING.
Picture the ball going through the hoop before you shoot.
Picture the sale being made before you open your mouth.
Picture the report being finished before you begin writing.
Then observe what happens.
More picturing – less grunting.
Matt Furey
P.S. My new book, One Breath at a Time, wants a home inside your hands. When it is on your desk, you see it and you pick it up each day to read a few pages. You breathe as you read, taking in the wisdom of “effortless effort.” And as your day moves along, you may be stunned at how you flowed… how you got so much done with a feeling of ease. What you learn in this book is so much better than “trying harder,” it is stunning. If you’re ready for an amazing change,
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